WEEKENDING

one of our favorite things to do in January is to spend a day at the national western stock show in denver.

this year was so enjoyable,

we 

- watched sheep judging

- miniature cow auction

[ these animals go for thousands of dollars .

last night the grand champion  steer sold for 106 thousand dollars ]

- scottish highland cows

- long horn steers

- horses

- mules

- walked through the old  stock yard pens

- cattle dogs perform

- children's stick rodeo

- talked with several out of town visitors

- watched some crazy informercial ;)

thank you denver for another great stock show.

CROCHET 101

my quilt group last week asked me to teach basic crochet.

yahoo---

always love to teach a new craft to friends

and was honored that the group ask for my assistance in teaching  this art form.

these are women who are extremely talented with needle and thread.

[ note quilt on back of chair ]

something i do not take lightly.

after a little practice i think they had the basics of single chain and double chain.

with these two stitches .....

the afghans and scarfs that can be created are endless.

thanks quilt buddies for a fun afternoon!

CHECK THIS OUT

i joined this KAL over at girls in sheep clothing

we are knitting Leaves of Grass

and i had the privilege of blogging over there.

check it out.

WHIPPOORWILL

 whippoorwill has become one of my favorite knits.

i love the colors:

MT: black with a tad of green and grey to boot.

[didn't save the label so can't tell you the real name].

the shawl fits like a dream

looks great with my coat

and well anything!

even on a tree ;0)

and oh that blue sky.

the temps have been warm, way too warm for this time of year.

but since one has to live in the here and now i took advantage of the weather

and sat outside a coffee house reading and sipping some of that oh so soothing brew.
[ some really fun news coming soon regarding the coffee house i was at and my dd#2.]

spent some time looking up at the trees and sky.

beautiful!

linking up with ginny

and 

yarn along.

it's wednesday!

WHAT TO DO

it is yarn along wednesday .....  yahoo !

i finished the whippoorwill shawl

however i can't share it with you because it is in the tub for a " really good soak ".

i was given directions on how to block this enormous shawl and have followed them to the T.

i love the shawl it is  beautiful.

i am now working on 

leaves of grass

i joined the kal with

girls in sheep clothing

i have finished chart A
and getting longer needles to start chart B.

have not been reading too much lately. though i did watch the entire Tudor series on netflix while finishing my shawl.

the reason i put "what to do" in the title is that my identity has been stolen by someone who has been buying very expensive jewelry, car [ down payment ], and eating extremely well in europe.
i am considering closing the blog due this awful incident.
since they have my name i wonder if they have visited here?
has this happen to any of you?

MY LIFE, GONE TO THE DOGS

my life with the dogs

yes stop rubbing your eyes...

sam and sadie are watching a bbc program.

the fact that they are sitting still and watching anything is amazing to me !

sadie had to turn away she knew their was going to be murder....

i loved that they were on the davenport with me, watching good flicks but most of all letting me knit.

puppies are trainable ;)

last sunday i ventured down to a big flee market in denver and came home with this.

how does that happen !

now i knew i wanted a hutch but i thought on sunday i would just keep an eye out for one checking prices. i really went to the market to look at quilts and vintage kitchen items.

{ i did buy an antique crib quilt....pictures to come later. }

i walked past this lovely and thought yes that would fit in my living room and i like the design, but i drove down in a small car { i was 60 miles away from home }. so i thought keep moving eileen you are done casting a glance in that direction.

off i wondered through the market picking up treasures when i found myself back on hutch row. this time i looked at the price

195.00

i cleaned my glasses.

the hutch was pure maple wood in great condition.

i looked at the price again !

now another women was throwing her eyes on the hutch, as she went to look at the price i reached for the tag and took it down saying " i am so sorry but this is sold ".

the following day eric and i drove back to the market with our truck and brought home 

maple hutch ;)

and finally i am making diaper covers for a friend that just had a beautiful boy.

these are so environmentally clean , re-useable, easy to make and just darn cute

maybe i could use them on the dogs, then we would not have to press pause for our outside breaks !

{ the dogs outside breaks, i stay inside }

YARN ALONG

oh how i have enjoyed the holidays,

cooking some fantastic meals that i have even dreamed about

{ gotta wonder what that is about }

lounge around quilting, knitting and reading,

and oh yes movies.

we saw LINCOLN and loved it!

also caught up on all JAMES BOND movies

then watched the TUTORS on New Years as well as some college football.

LOVED IT !

but now it is time to get back into the groove of real life,

WORK ;(

i would much rather stay home and knit, quilt, cook and watch movies ;)

i have added the contrast color to my whippoorwill....

yahoo.

as much as i want to wear this shawl i think i may be sad when it is done,

i have really enjoyed this project.

i know i will be making a another ;)

spent a lot of time reading as well.

TRUE SISTERS was another great sandra dallas book,

{ i think i have read most of her books }

TRUE SISTERS is about the martin handcart company that walked across the great plains to salt lake city.

the company left eastern Iowa at the end of july with push carts that were made of green wood.

the majority of the company was made up of european emigrants very ill prepared for such a trip.

dallas develops her characters so well that i felt as if i knew them personally.

the story is basically in the voice of the women in the company,

their hopes and dreams of a husband, family and a good happy life in zion.

what they found was a lot of misery, shattered dreams , death and sister wives.

i recommend this book as well as any of sandra dallas"s book.

go over small things and ginny

at yarn along.